Maintenance, Fittings, Tubes, Liquid/Coolant and maybe Res, Pumps(&tops)

[wrenaudrey]

Hello im back again :lol:
Im in the process of itemising the parts for my water cooling and I have(you've guessed it!) fittings, tubes and liquid/coolant left and I need some rightful advice.
I will be using OCUK as its fairly close to where I live and it'll make it easier for me to keep going back and forth if ever something does go wrong
There will be a lot of questions, so please, try and answer all of them

Tubes
I want a clear tube, not blue-ish or whatever colour-ish, clear, transparent, see through, cleaaaar!

One question(for the moment, maybe):
--What's better to use - 1/2(wider) or 3/8(narrower)
Found this. Is this a good one or are there any better out there?


Fittings
As its my first watercooled system I want to be safe and I have decided to go with the 'safer' compression fittings.

Compression Fittings
With that tube linked above (here if you need again), 1/2 Internal Diameter(ID) and 3/4 Outer Diameter(OD):
--for compression fittings will I then need to be looking at one with 1/2 OD then?
--or does the compression fitting also need to have the same characteristics, 1/2 ID and 3/4 OD?

Angled FittingsObviously 9 out of 10 you'll have to use one of these but my question is:
--Do all of them have the ability to rotate so you can adjust exactly where you want it to point? Because my worry is that if I happen to buy one that doesn't have that feature, when I thread it in, it'll most probably point the other way than I wanted it to point to :S because of the way the thread works and threads only 'enter' at one certain point (did that make sense?)

Valves
I want one for the ease of draining and just for plain simplicity, found this, is it good enough? Recommend me another?


Coolant/Liquid
To be honest I've not really made my mind up on the colour scheme and what the colour of the liquid should be but what are my options?
--What are the differences between them?
--Problems with certain 'coolants'?
--What about water? Distilled? De-ionised? Can I insert dye to them?


Maintenance
There will be a point in the future that you'll have to drain the system out.
Whats the rule of thumb?
--Drain and fill again?
--Drain, filter, dry and fill?
--Why filter it even if you only used distilled/de-ionised water?

So sorry its a long post. I need to cover everything.

 

[alpenwasser]

I'll stick to those things I can actually answer with some degree of certainty.

Hello im back again :lol:
Tubes
I want a clear tube, not blue-ish or whatever colour-ish, clear, transparent, see through, cleaaaar!

Not my area of expertise, I've always used coloured tubing in the past. Much less hassle.

One question(for the moment, maybe):
--What's better to use - 1/2(wider) or 3/8(narrower)

Advantage of wider tubing: Ever so slightly better performance (it's really not much though).

Advantage of smaller tubing: The fittings aren't as large, meaning you get less problems
with clearance on blocks which have two fittings right next to each other.

Personally I prefer 10 mm ID/ 16 mm OD. It has a large enough ID to allow for sufficient
flow, and the comparably thick walls give it excellent kink resistance.

Found this. Is this a good one or are there any better out there?

I don't have personal experience with it, but I've seen quite a few forum members use it and/or
recommend it in the past few months, so it seems to be quite good. I don't know if it has a blueish
tint or anything like that though.

Fittings
As its my first watercooled system I want to be safe and I have decided to go with the 'safer' compression fittings.

Compression Fittings
With that tube linked above (here if you need again), 1/2 Internal Diameter(ID) and 3/4 Outer Diameter(OD):
--for compression fittings will I then need to be looking at one with 1/2 OD then?
--or does the compression fitting also need to have the same characteristics, 1/2 ID and 3/4 OD?

The latter one. The compression fittings you want are 1/2 ID, 3/4 OD.

Angled FittingsObviously 9 out of 10 you'll have to use one of these

Well now that depends on your loop layout now doesn't it? But yes, they are very handy in certain
situations.

but my question is:
--Do all of them have the ability to rotate so you can adjust exactly where you want it to point? Because my worry is that if I happen to buy one that doesn't have that feature, when I thread it in, it'll most probably point the other way than I wanted it to point to :S because of the way the thread works and threads only 'enter' at one certain point (did that make sense?)

I have yet to see a 90 deg fitting that does not rotate. That would render it practically useless as far
as I can tell. To be sure I suggest you pick one and come back and ask if you're not sure (or ask
OCUK directly, I'm sure they have some sort of tech support for this).

Valves
I want one for the ease of draining and just for plain simplicity, found this, is it good enough? Recommend me another?

It's not pretty, but it will do the job just fine.

Coolant/Liquid
To be honest I've not really made my mind up on the colour scheme and what the colour of the liquid should be but what are my options?
--What are the differences between them?
--Problems with certain 'coolants'?
--What about water? Distilled? De-ionised? Can I insert dye to them?

I'm definitely no expert on coolants, but here's what I know from my own and other people's experiences:

• Best performance would be pure water. That's just thermodynamics.
• Differences in performance between pre-mixed coolants are minimal. Even those coolants are
  almost totally water (which is the part of the coolant that's actually responsible for cooling) with
  some additives for inhibiting biological growths and corrosion. So performance-wise it doesn't really
  make a difference (at least from what I know). I'm also not aware of any significant performance
  loss compared to pure water.
• Problems: Don't use Mayhems Aurora, it's just for shows and shouldn't stay in your loop for an
  extended period of time (not so much a problem, but something one should be aware of). Some
  people seem to have problems with certain types of Mayhems Pastel, for others it seems to work
  without trouble. Other than that I'm not aware of any serious issues at the moment which are
  verifiably caused by a coolant.
• Biological Growth: Can be an issue, but is overhyped by many. The basic facts of biology
  are that organisms need nutrition to sustain themselves (which is where exactly in distilled water?
  maybe if you get some bacteria that can eat metal or tubing, but I've never heard of anyone having
  that problem, how would they get in there?). And organisms that rely on photosynthesis
  need natural light or an equivalent substitute (some artificial light is suitable, some is not). A guy
  on these forums recently asked an aquarium shop owner about this, and that guy said as long as
  the innards of your rig are strongly exposed to sunlight (or equivalent) you shouldn't have any troubles
  even with pure distilled water (how would the algae spores even get inside your loop?). One would think
  a guy like that knows what he's talking about when it comes to what can and can not grow in water
  under what circumstances. I haven't done any personal testing with this though.
• Biocide: If you really are afraid of algae and stuff, you can use either a premixed coolant (they
  almost always have at least some biocide additive) or a dedicated biocide. There exist either chemical
  biocides which you add to the water, or you can use a silver coil (kill coil).
• Distilled and de-ionized are equivalent for W/C purposes. As long as you don't operate in a chemically
  sensitive environment there's no practical difference between the two. The insides of your loop are
  not really clean anyway, no matter how well you clean them before filling up the loop. And as soon
  as you open the bottle of coolant, you will have contamination from dust etc. (unless you're in a clean
  room, which I seriously doubt ).
• Dye: Yes you can add dye. Research any problems with staining your components (tubing, water
  blocks etc.) beforehand though.

Maintenance
There will be a point in the future that you'll have to drain the system out.
Whats the rule of thumb?
--Drain and fill again?
--Drain, filter, dry and fill?
--Why filter it even if you only used distilled/de-ionised water?

So sorry its a long post. I need to cover everything.

I completely drain my loop every few months, wash it out (I use de-ionized water with very little
vinegar, others use their own special concoctions) and then refill it again with new coolant.

I've never used a filter.

 

[NRG!]

I'm currently evaluating that exact tubing.

Avoid these clear tubing types:

Tygon r3603
primochill pro lrt
masterkleer
clearflex60

They all cloud, which makes the coolant look dull. Plasticiser also slowly makes it's way off the inner walls of the tubing and with clock up the blocks in time.

For coolant I recommend a good clear premix and some dyes. That way you can get the exact colour you want. (For example, adding a precise amount of yellow and red to the coolant to get the shade of orange you want.)

For fittings, I know for a fact bitspower do angled thread extension fittings that don't rotate, so make sure if you want a rotary it says rotary in the description.

 

[alpenwasser]

For fittings, I know for a fact bitspower do angled thread extension fittings that don't rotate, so make sure if you want a rotary it says rotary in the description.

Ah yes, thread extensions do exist like that, Alphacool also make some (non-rotary version,
rotary version). I was of course talking about fittings which accept the tubing directly (although
thinking about it, it would no longer surprise me as much to find that such fittings also exist
in a non-rotary version).

Bottom line: Pay attention to what you're buying (but you should do that anyway).

 

[Mysterae]

Some good info provided already, I just want to add on the coolant.

I've mixed my own in the past and also tried the Feser stuff. For my current build I've gone back to making my own. A 30/70 mix of Halfords coolant and Halfords battery top-up water (de-ionised). I'm even thinking of altering that mix to 20/80 as the anti-freeze properties are lost on a computer build; the anti-freeze stuff is just there to provide some corrosion and bacterial protection, not forgetting a bit of colour.

Other makes of antifreeze are available, but I know that Halfords have two types, one blue and one red (I make use of this fact for my classic car; one colour goes in the main engine cooling and the other colour for the chargecooler - it's so I know which system is leaking by it's colour ). You also have dyes as you mentioned, but I have no experience of this although I have heard that some waterblocks can filter out the dye and can also stick to the inside of radiators, don't know how much truth there is to this.

I'm using the Primochill Pro LRT tubing that NRG! doesn't like, but I selected it as I needed it to be very flexible in my application. It's too early to report on it's performance at the moment.

 

[alpenwasser]

Other makes of antifreeze are available, but I know that Halfords have two types, one blue and one red (I make use of this fact for my classic car; one colour goes in the main engine cooling and the other colour for the chargecooler - it's so I know which system is leaking by it's colour ).

Now that's clever!

I'm using the Primochill Pro LRT tubing that NRG! doesn't like, but I selected it as I needed it to be very flexible in my application. It's too early to report on it's performance at the moment.

I've actually also been using that tubing, but in its white and black versions with normal
clear coolant (Aquacomputer Double Protect Ultra). Been running like that for a few years
now without problems. But the clear tubing with coloured coolants is apparently a bit more
problematic from what I've read.

 

[wrenaudrey]

Wow AlpenWasser, thank you very much for that detailed reply!

About the dye, that was just a general question for exploring my options, but im really looking to have a colour less coolant, so distilled/deionised water is ideal. +I don't really know my colour scheme yet as im still waiting for the new Z87 boards.

I completely drain my loop every few months, wash it out (I use de-ionized water with very little
vinegar, others use their own special concoctions) and then refill it again with new coolant.
I've never used a filter.

Wash it out - fill it 1/2 of de-ionised water and shake, drain then repeat until clear?
What's the vinegar for?
Do you dry it before you fill it with new coolant again?

I'm currently evaluating that exact tubing.
Avoid these clear tubing types:
Tygon r3603
primochill pro lrt
masterkleer
clearflex60

They all cloud, which makes the coolant look dull. Plasticiser also slowly makes it's way off the inner walls of the tubing and with clock up the blocks in time.

For coolant I recommend a good clear premix and some dyes. That way you can get the exact colour you want. (For example, adding a precise amount of yellow and red to the coolant to get the shade of orange you want.)

This tube is the same as your mentioned 'promochill pro lrt'?
Does the clouding that you mentioned only apply when using a premixed coloured coolant?
Will I have problems with this tube when using just plain, non-coloured de-ionised/distilled water?

Some good info provided already, I just want to add on the coolant.

I've mixed my own in the past and also tried the Feser stuff. For my current build I've gone back to making my own. A 30/70 mix of Halfords coolant and Halfords battery top-up water (de-ionised). I'm even thinking of altering that mix to 20/80 as the anti-freeze properties are lost on a computer build; the anti-freeze stuff is just there to provide some corrosion and bacterial protection, not forgetting a bit of colour.

You also have dyes as you mentioned, but I have no experience of this although I have heard that some waterblocks can filter out the dye and can also stick to the inside of radiators, don't know how much truth there is to this.

I'm using the Primochill Pro LRT tubing that NRG! doesn't like, but I selected it as I needed it to be very flexible in my application. It's too early to report on it's performance at the moment.

That mixing your own is one nice and clever idea!
Your 30/70 mix, that 30% anti freeze and 70% deionised water right?
The antifreeze stuff, is that good enough to prevent corrosion and bacterial buildup?
If antifreeze is good enough, are there clear ones? I really want a (at the moment) colour less coolant so a little bit of blue or red will just mess it up abit.

Now that's clever!
I've actually also been using that tubing, but in its white and black versions with normal
clear coolant (Aquacomputer Double Protect Ultra). Been running like that for a few years
now without problems. But the clear tubing with coloured coolants is apparently a bit more
problematic from what I've read.

As mentioned at the beginning of this long reply :lol: I really want a clear colour less coolant, the dye was just a question to explore my options.
Do you think I will still have problems when using a clear tube with colour less deionised/distilled water?

 

[alpenwasser]

Wow AlpenWasser, thank you very much for that detailed reply!

Well, I strive to be helpful.

Wash it out - fill it 1/2 of de-ionised water and shake, drain then repeat until clear?

I fill a big bucket of water with the cleaning solution, hook it up to the pump and let it
circle for a few hours. I have an old Eheim 1046 which can be submerged and is ideally
suited for this. But I imagine one could do something similar with a normal W/C pump
as well.

What's the vinegar for?

Over the years I have sometimes found residue which looked a bit like chalk. I'm pretty sure
it wasn't (since I used de-ion water), but whatever it was, the vinegar helped me get rid of
it.

You could probably also use some other cleaning agent. I have to admit that I haven't really
done any extended tests on alternatives to this. I once read about a guy using vinegar, tried
it and it's worked so far. But it might also depend on your coolant mixture.

I don't use a lot of vinegar though, maybe 2~10% mix, depending on how dirty it appears.

Do you dry it before you fill it with new coolant again?

After the vinegar solution I clean it again with de-ionized water. Then I dry it to be able to
control if there's still something left (it's easier to control if it's dry). If all is good, I fill her up.

This tube is the same as your mentioned 'promochill pro lrt'?

No. The tubing you've linked is Primochill Advanced, the Primochill Pro is another
kind of tubing. The "advanced" is the good stuff from what I've heard.

Does the clouding that you mentioned only apply when using a premixed coloured coolant?

For testing purposes I recently looked at a few clear tubings, and the Aquacomputer Double
Protect Ultra Clear clouded that tubing within hours. I'm not sure about distilled/de-ion
water, but those are my results. So even a clear coolant is no guarantee against clouding
from my experience. The tubing was either Mastercleer or Clearflex, I'm not sure at the moment.

Will I have problems with this tube when using just plain, non-coloured de-ionised/distilled water?

From what I've read people have had good experiences with this tubing. But I haven't tried
it myself (couldn't find it anywhere to buy yet).

That mixing your own is one nice and clever idea!
Your 30/70 mix, that 30% anti freeze and 70% deionised water right?
The antifreeze stuff, is that good enough to prevent corrosion and bacterial buildup?

Provided you put enough of it in your cooling solution, anti-freeze has pretty strong anti-corrosive
properties. Remember that in your car's cooling loop, there are a lot of mixed metals, so
it needs to inhibit corrosion to quite a good degree. As for anti-bacterial properties, it's pretty
toxic, although I don't know if that's on purpose or just a side-effect of its make-up.

Do you think I will still have problems when using a clear tube with colour less deionised/distilled water?

I haven't tried it myself, so I can't promise anything, but I think your chances of success are
pretty good.

 

[Kei]

That mixing your own is one nice and clever idea!
Your 30/70 mix, that 30% anti freeze and 70% deionised water right?
The antifreeze stuff, is that good enough to prevent corrosion and bacterial buildup?
If antifreeze is good enough, are there clear ones? I really want a (at the moment) colour less coolant so a little bit of blue or red will just mess it up abit.

As mentioned at the beginning of this long reply :lol: I really want a clear colour less coolant, the dye was just a question to explore my options.
Do you think I will still have problems when using a clear tube with colour less deionised/distilled water?

This is how mine looks with saab long life antifreeze @ an 80/20% mix in natural light. There is a slight green tinge to it when it's in the reservoir but it is very slight. (in the tubing it is colourless) My tubing has a purple tint as it is UV reactive.

Light it up with UV/blue though and it goes fluorescent green.

What's really confusing is that the antifreeze is actually a pink colour. There are a few different colours you can get, but the various colours signify different coolants rather than coloured for preference. (service life for one) Just remember that ethylene glycol is highly toxic.

I'd avoid using too many rotary fittings as they are all dependant on rubber O rings to seal, the more of them you have, the more chance you have for leaks. I'd just use them where necessary to make tubing routes easier rather than for looks.

 

[wrenaudrey]

This is how mine looks with saab long life antifreeze @ an 80/20% mix in natural light
Light it up with UV/blue though and it goes fluorescent green.

Oooh looking at this has made me conclude that I will not be using anti freeze within my upcoming loop.


As I want a clear coolant and not using antifreeze for the corrosion avoidance, will these do?
Coolant, Biocide and Kill Coil
These items go together right?
Feel free to suggest any other alternative that's along those lines.

Read about a 'non-conductive' water too, what's that all about?

 

[alpenwasser]

Oooh looking at this has made me conclude that I will not be using anti freeze within my upcoming loop.


As I want a clear coolant and not using antifreeze for the corrosion avoidance, will these do?
Coolant, Biocide and Kill Coil
These items go together right?

Yeah that should work. You probably don't need both a kill coil and a biocide, but it won't
cause any damage so you'll be fine afaik.

Since you won't be using any anti-corrosion agents make sure that you don't mix
metals, or more specifically, have a look at this article on wikipedia. Copper and brass
are fine, Copper, brass and alu not so much.

Read about a 'non-conductive' water too, what's that all about?

There's no such thing as non-conductive water. It's physically/chemically impossible.
See here for more info.

However, water whose only conductivity comes from self-ionization does have significantly
less conductivity than water with some (even minute) contamination by ionizeable compounds.
So, non-conductive water is not really non-conductive, it's just less conductive
than "normal" water, and will become a lot more conductive when it comes into contact with
dust or other stuff. So for example, you are unlikely to gain a lot more protection in case of
a leak since whatever component the coolant will drop on to will have dust on it, however little,
and therefore render the coolant a lot more conductive upon contact.

 

[Mysterae]

alpenwasser said it all really, you'll be fine with those ingredients.

30% anti-freeze:

with an added 70% water:

As I said earlier, I'm going to water down my mix to 2:8 or even 1:10, but it probably won't make that much of a difference.

The non-conductive coolant does work, I know folk who's pc's have survived a leak on graphic cards. It's for the risk-averse person, but to maintain its non-conductive properties you have to change it often (6 months I think?, don't know for sure). Be careful building your loop, check it and test it at full pressure (max pump speed) before putting the power anywhere near it and you'll be fine.

 

[Kei]

If you're not illuminating your system with luminous blue and UV, it should remain almost colourless. (like in my first picture, as that reservoir is full) Don't forget that there are other colours of antifreeze out there too. I was going to use some traditional blue coolant, but decided to use the longer service life stuff, not realising that it was going to go green. (not that it was a bad thing, as pink would have looked a bit odd) As said it looks virtually colourless under natural light.

If I weren't using antifreeze, i'd be using distilled water with biocide and a strong corrosion inhibitor. Whatever anyone tells you about copper nickel and brass not corroding when together in a loop is wrong as they have differing electro negativity and will corrode. (albeit slowly as the differences in electro negativity are small) I personally don't want any corrosion so i'm not taking any chances. (biocide and a silver coil are the same thing, but i find the idea of adding another reactive metal to the loop a bit daft, especially if you're not bothering to add a corrosion inhibitor)

 

[wrenaudrey]

As I said earlier, I'm going to water down my mix to 2:8 or even 1:10, but it probably won't make that much of a difference.

I have some antifreeze hanging around the shed so ill probably try and mix some up, really looking at that 1:10 though. I really want it to be as clear as possible.

If you're not illuminating your system with luminous blue and UV, it should remain almost colourless.

Luminous blue or UV - Just to be clear that a Cold Cathode right and NOT LED strips like NZXT Hue for instance?

If I weren't using antifreeze, i'd be using distilled water with biocide and a strong corrosion inhibitor.

I will probably mix some antifreeze and distilled water and see what it looks like.
But what's a 'strong corrosion inhibitor' that I can get easily and cheaply, obviously excluding antifreeze.

 

[Kei]

The illumination is from a single ultrabright blue LED. It's easy enough to mix up a small batch and test it out using your lights. A plain white LED doesn't get the colour to fluoresce as much.

I doubt anyone has actually tried it, but i was looking at using sentinel X100, which is corrosion inhibitor for central heating systems. They also make a biocide too which is compatible with the X100 inhibitor. (X700) I know X100 is practically colourless, maybe a slight straw colouring, but no idea on X700. I admit to not have much, if any faith in premixed coolants due to the number of problems i've seen posted on forums.

 

[wrenaudrey]

The illumination is from a single ultrabright blue LED. It's easy enough to mix up a small batch and test it out using your lights. A plain white LED doesn't get the colour to fluoresce as much.

Oh that's bad, don't want to risk anything.

I doubt anyone has actually tried it, but i was looking at using sentinel X100, which is corrosion inhibitor for central heating systems. They also make a biocide too which is compatible with the X100 inhibitor. (X700) I know X100 is practically colourless, maybe a slight straw colouring, but no idea on X700. I admit to not have much, if any faith in premixed coolants due to the number of problems i've seen posted on forums.

Are there others, that preferably comes in like millilitres or 1L, no idea what I would do with it after build really.
+This talk of corrosion makes it sound like there's really some intense corrosion going on. Do I really have to have anti-corrosion in the loop? How long would you guys say a loop/component would last without one?

 

[Kei]

It's impossible to know how fast it'll corrode. Some seem to go within a few months others seem to last ages. I didn't fancy playing that lottery. I think those that last longest are usually flushed and refilled frequently to ensure that the water remains highly de-ionised. (Which is something i really CBA to go through as bleeding takes hours) Some of the premixed coolants seem to come with corrosion inhibitors and TTL seems to be recommending XSPC EC6 these days, which could be a reasonable bet. (you don't need anything else with it, no biocide or coils)

 

[wrenaudrey]

Just a quick reply before I go to sleep.

It's impossible to know how fast it'll corrode. Some seem to go within a few months others seem to last ages. I didn't fancy playing that lottery. I think those that last longest are usually flushed and refilled frequently to ensure that the water remains highly de-ionised. (Which is something i really CBA to go through as bleeding takes hours) Some of the premixed coolants seem to come with corrosion inhibitors and TTL seems to be recommending XSPC EC6 these days, which could be a reasonable bet. (you don't need anything else with it, no biocide or coils)

I may end up just using the clear version of EC6 just to avoid all the hassle. But I will try to mix car antifreeze and deionised water to see what kind of colours I get.

As I said on the OP, im putting up a list for all the components.
And tomorrow, when I wake up that'll be the first thing I do, and I hope you guys are not tired of checking and answering my questions already.

 

[wrenaudrey]

Here we go, list of components as promised.
Could you guys please check they all work/fit together.

Radiator 1: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 240mm
Radiator 2: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 360mm
CPU Water Block: XSPC RayStorm
GPU Water Block: EK FC670 GTX DCII
GPU Back Plate : EK FC670 GTX DCII Backplate
Pump: Alphacool VPP655SE Laing D5 Single
Pump Top (Option 1): Alphacool HF D5 Pump Top for Laing D5 Pumps
Pump Top (Option 2): Koolance Laing D5 Pump Top and Reservoir Base
Reservoir (Option 1): Phobya Balancer 150 silver nickel
Reservoir (Option 2): Looking for one that would go directly attached to Koolance pump top.
Tube: Primochill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT 7/16" ID - 5/8" OD Clear

Fittings, I have an idea in my head where and how tubes will go and have worked that with what and how many of what fittings will I need. I'd also like there to be a drain port. Here we go:
11x XSPC G1/4" to 1/2" Barb Fitting
4x XSPC G1/4" 90° Rotary Fitting
3x XSPC G1/4" 45° Rotary Fitting
2x Aqua Computer Ball Valve
1x Bitspower Black Sparkle "Q" PLUS Fitting
4x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting
2x XSPC G1/4" 5mm Male to Male Fitting


Coolant, is it a bad idea to buy and use distilled/de-ionised water to wash out the rads first before fitting into the loop and then filling it up with XSPC EC6 Clear Coolant?
Distilled/De-ionised Water
Branded Coolant - XSPC EC6 Clear Coolant

 

[Kei]

Not a bad idea to wash the radiators through with distilled water. Make sure you start with hot/boiled water first then move on to distilled. Although i have my doubts about it being worthwhile buying some distilled water just for this job. (most have the distilled to use as their coolant)

My preference on the pump top would be the koolance integrated unit. I'm looking at moving to a similarly styled unit with my D5.

Why mix 1/2" barbs and 7/16" compression fittings? All the fittings should work together with the tubing, it just seems odd to mix the two types. Also 2x ball valves seems odd as i thought this was for a drain?